Extraction of metals from their ores.



ca t- 1 "ta UNITED ST; TES PATENT OFFICE.

JABEZ TURTON, OF JOHANXESBURG, TRAXSYAAL.

EXTRACTION OF ZYIETALS FBOIlI THEIR GEES.

Application filed December 20, 1905.

T0 (17 wit m1 it may concern:

Be it known that l, Jxmiz Tt'n'rox, a subject of the. liing of GreatBritain, residing at Jrihannesbnrg. 'lransvaal, have invented certainnew and usel'ul improvements iltelating to the l'ixtraction of Metalsfrom Their ()res, of which the fol owing is a specilicz'ltion.

This invention has reference to the extraction of metals lioln ores.

ltlthmzgh primarily designed for the treat' plicable. for the treatmentof pyritie or nonpvritic ores.

The invention relates particularly to the process of extracting theprecious or ba e metals from the crushed or reduced ore by means ol asolvent s lution.

As comparul with certain pro esses heretol'ore proposed for the purposesspecified, the presemimprovements give, among others, the lollowingadvantages, namelyz- They cnabie the xtraction of the metal to beell'ected much m re expeditiously; a higher extraction is ohtaiaed, andthe loss of line gold in slimes etcetera is entirely obviated. The.process is extr mely simple and pos- Sesses decided advantages both asregards handling and working, over the processt s at present in vogue.The ore, alter being crushed, goes direct into the vats [or treatmentwith the solution; practically all the gold is extracted before the ore.leaves the vats; no slimcs are formed, and no further treatment of thetailings in any way is required. The gold extracted is much purer, andfinally, the. initial cost of the installation of the plant is veryconsiderably reduced.

The essence of the present invention lies in the employment of a solventsolution eonsist-ing of sulfuric acid, salt (ehlorid of sodium), nitrateof an alkali metal (nitrate of soda or nit-rate of potash), permanganateof sodav or permanganate of potash, and water, with or without theaddition of saecharin (C II O all in suitable quantities or proportions.The function of the saeeharin is that of an oxidizing agent.

In carrying out the invention in the ease of ordinary conglomerate andnon-pyritie ores, the ore as it comes from the mine is crushed orconn'ninut-ed, as for example by passing it through stone erushers orcrushing rollers, or

Specification of Letters Patent.

1 nature of the. ore. placed in a vat or tank (or vats or tanks) ofPatented Sept. 22. 1908.

Serial No. 292,632.

by any other suitable means, to reduce itto a suitable size to render itamenable to treatment by the. chemical solvent. The degree ofeomminution will vary according to the The crushed ore is then anysuitable Ctmstruction. As the s'vlvent solution 1s very penetrative, itis desirable that the vats or tanks shall be so constructed as towithstand the action of the solution; for example, the vats ma; be. madeof pitchpine, and. with the. object of counteracting any action of thesolvent which might cause shrinkage of the wood, the vats may be boundwith iron bands which are anapte l to nmke thevats liquidtight toprevent leakages. if preferred the vats may be built of bricks on afoundation of concrete and be lined with a suitable inm-perishablecement. [t is also desirable that all the utensils. pipes, pumps,ctcctera employed in the process, either for the cireulation ormanipulation of the solvent, should be of vuleanite. glass. or othersuitable anti-cm-rosive or acid resisting material. After a sulii -ientquanlit of the ore has been placed in the tank, the solvent solution isthen pumped on to the contents and allowed to pereolate through, andsutli cicnt time given for the ell'ective working of the solvent, afterwhich it is treated as hereinafter explained for the purpose ofextractin; the. metal.

I prefer to treat the re wit h the. solvent by IUlitliflll, that is tosay the vats are preferably so arranged that the solution can he drawnon from the first into the next vat n! tank, and so on through the wholeseries, the solution being brought up to its original strength as itpasses on from vat to vat. In this manner the solution can be somanipulated as to reduce the cost, in rotation, to one quarter that ofthe original solution. After the original solution has passed throughthe ore in a vat it will be understood that a certain quantity remainsin the ore. This is preferably leached off with water, which.percolating or passing through the ore, carries with it all theauriferous fluid. This washing is preferably continued until the liquidpassing from the vat is colorless. When this condition is reached thevatcan be discharged and re-cliargr-l with the ore for treatment.

Although the solution extracts all metals from ores, it has the power ofholding all these metals in solution as long as the standard strengljiis maintained. he ore may be treated with the solvent solution in anyother suitable and convenient manner. i or each ton of ore treated Iemploy the several ingredients in the following quantities orproportions, namely:water 40 gallons or 400 pounds, sull'uric acid 80pounds, salt (chlorid of sodium) 40 pounds, nitrate of an alkali metal(nitrate ol soda or nitrate of potash) 2 pounds, permanganate of soda orpermanganate of potash 2 pounds. in addition to the permanganate of sodaor permanganate of potash, saccharin mayoe employed and two pounds (moreor less) be used in the production of the above quantity of the solvent.The quantities of the several ingredients may be varied as may be foundnecessary or desirable to suit the nature of the ore to be treated. Thesolvent solution maybe produced by mixing the several ingredientsenumerated in any suitable and preferred manner.

in the process of treating highly pyritic ores it is necessary to roastthe ore in kilns. The ore -ed not be tincly comminuted as pieces rangingfrom one ounce to tour or live pounds in weight would be suitable forthe roasting process. dead mast is preferable although not absolutelynecessary; the ore must he rendered highly porous by calcination so thatit is amenable to the penetrative action of the solvent solution. Afterthe calcination oi the ore is completed, it. is crushed or comminuted'(more or less coarse and treated as before described with the solventsolution.

As a precipitant for recovering the gold from the aurit'erous lluid Iprefer to employ charcoal, although any other suitable reagent may beused. By employing charcoal as the precipitant the gold is obtained inthe metallic state, and all the baser metals are left in the lluid.

In course of time the original solution becomes so highly charged orsaturated with the gold and other metals that it can no longer be usedfor ell'ecting the extraction. When this stage is reached it is finallydrawn oil and very ireely diluted with water (say three to live parts ofwater to one of solution) and then passed through the charcoal. Thedilution of the solution absolutely esseni ial. other wise, thesolution, being too strong, would have a tendency to destroy the)recipitating power of the charcoal. The charcoal may be iuclosed inbags or covers made of muslin or other similar suitable material. I orell'ecting the recovery of the gold from the charcoal the latter isburned in a suitable vessel, the ashes containing the gold beingsubsequently mixed with suitable fluxes and reduced in the ordinarymanner.

What I claim as my invention and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of extracting metals from ore which consists insubjecting the ore to the action of a solvent solution of sulfuric acid,sodium chlorid a nitrate of an alkali metal, a permanganate of an alkalimetal, saccharin and water, and subsequently precipitating the metalfrom said solution.

2. The process of extracting metals from ores which consists in crushingthe ore, then treating the crushed ore with a solvent solution ofsulfuric acid, salt, nitrate of an alkali metal, and permanganate ol' analkali metal, with the addition oi saccharin and water, and subsequentlyprecipitating the gold from said solution, substantially as described.

The process of extracting metals from ores which consisis in crushingthe ore then treating the crushed ore with a solvent solution ofsulfuric acid, salt, nitrate of an alkali metal and permanganate of analkali metal, and water, with the addition of sacchurin, andsubsequently precipitating the gold from the solvent solution onchart-mil, and then burning the charcoal and adding llux to the ashesand reducing same to recover the gold, substantially as described.

4. The process of treating pyritic ores for extracting metals therefrom,which consists in reducing the, ore to a suitable size, then roastingthe same to render it porous, crushing it after calcination iscompleted, then treating the same with a solvent solution of sulfuricacid, salt, nitrate of an alkali metal and permanganate of an alkalimetal, and water, with the addition of saceharin and subsequentlyprecipitating the gold from the solvent solution, substantially asdescribed.

5. The process of treating pyriticores for extracting metals therefrom,which consists in reducing the ore to a suitable size, then roasting thesame to render it. porous, crushing it after calcination is completed,then treating the same with a solvent solution of sulfuric acid, salt,nitrate of an alkali metal, and permanganate of an alkali metal, andwater, with the addition of saceharin, and subsequently precipitatingthe. gold from the solvent solution on charcoal, substan tially asdescribed.

6. The process of treating pyritic ores for extracting metals therefrom,which consists in reducing the ore to a suitable size, then roasting thesame to render it porous, crushing it after calcination is completed,then treating the same with a solvent solution of sulfuric acid, salt,nitrate of an alkali metal, and permanganate of an alkali metal, andwater, with the addition of saccharin, and subsequently precipitatingtht gold from the solvent solution on charcoal, and then burning theeharccal and adding ttux to the ashes and redu ing same to recover thegold, sobst antially as described.

7. The process of extracting metals from ores which consists in crushingthe ore, then treating the crushed ore with a solvent solution ofsulfuric a d, salt, nitrate of an alkali metal, and permanganate of analkali metal, and water, with the addition of saceharin, andsubsequently diluting the solvent solution with water preparatory toprecipitating the gold therefrom and finally precipitating the gold,substantially as described.

T he process of extracting metals from ores which consists in crushingthe ore, then treating the crushed ore with a solvent solution ofsulfuric acid, salt, nitrate of an alkali metal, and permanganate of analkali metal, and water with the addition of sacr-harin, the ore beingtreated with the solvent by rotation, or so that thesolution can bedrawn oil from the first vat into the next rat and so on through thewhole series, the solution being brought up to its original strength asit passes on from vat to vat, and subsequently diluting the solventsolution with water reparatory to precipitating the gold there ii'om andfinally precipitating the gold, substantially as described.

The process of extracting metals from ores which consists in crushingthe ore, then treating the crushed ore with a solvent solutionconsisting of eight Y pounds of sulfuric acid, forty pounds of salt,twenty two and a half pounds of nitrate of an alkali metal, two oundspermanganate of an alkali met: al, and tour hundred pounds of water,with two pounds of saccharin per ton of ore to be treated, the ore beingtreated with the solvent by rotation, then washing the ore in the vatuntil the liquid passing from the vat is colorless, then diluting thesolvent solution with water, then precipitating the gold from thediluted solution on charcoal, then burning the charcoal, and then addingflux to the charcoal ashes and reducing the same to recover the gold,substantialtv as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set in hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JABEZ TURTON.

WVitnesses:

CHAS. OvExnaLE, It. OVENDALE.

